Animals 24-7

Dogs, cats, horses, wildlife, zoonoses, & nature

Mouse studies often don’t work,  NIH admits after landmark 10-year study

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National Institutes of Health finding in 2013 presaged Wellcome Foundation decision to close the Sanger Institute genetically modified mouse lab by 2022 WASHINGTON D.C. (March 2013)–– Bluntly stated the headline in the February 11,  2013 edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,  “Genomic responses in mouse models poorly mimic human inflammatory diseases.” Echoing […]

Wild Kingdom star Jim Fowler, 89: the truth behind the legend

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Florida roadside zoo showman starred on TV for 50 years  NORWALK,  Connecticut––Few viewers of the NBC nature documentary television series Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom during the original run of the program,  1963-1971,  might have expected that host Jim Fowler would die quietly at home at age 89––but he did,  on May 8,  2019,  in […]

Should giving shelter dogs & cats to university labs count as “live release”?

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USDA says pound animal giveaways to vet schools are not covered by the federal Animal Welfare Act              BATON ROUGE,  Louisiana;  TUSKEGEE, Alabama––Recent transfers of shelter animals to the Louisiana State University and Tuskegee University veterinary schools have allegedly been reported by shelter personnel as “adoptions” or transfers to “rescue.” The disputed transactions appear to […]

China cloning advance to cut monkey use in research, say scientists

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Critics appear not to have read either the Chinese scientific journal reports or media release about them clear to the end SHANGHAI, China––Had the Institute of Neuroscience at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai put the last three lines of a January 24,  2019 media release announcing the births of five cloned monkeys at […]

Arun Rangsi, 39, “heart gibbon” of IPPL founder Shirley McGreal

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Arun Rangsi was living link to IPPL origins             SUMMERVILLE,  South Carolina––“The International Primate Protection League is devastated to report the loss of our first lab gibbon, Arun Rangsi,  who was also my ‘heart gibbon,’”  IPPL founder Shirley McGreal posted to social media. Arun Rangsi was a living link to IPPL cofounder Ardith Eudey,  Ph.D.,  a […]

Pseudo-science & the Alex Pacheco “Spay & Neuter” Cookie

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No product,  no scientists,  nothing else that makes sense             POMPANO BEACH,  Florida––The pseudo-science in a “Spay and Neuter Cookie Science Update and Overview” fundraising appeal emailed by “600 Million Stray Dogs Need You” founder Alex Pacheco to potential donors on December 19,  2018 began in the first sentence beneath the headline.             Pacheco has […]

Can plant-based “meat” be made to satisfy the Yellow Vests?

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Demand for more & cheaper meat underlies strikes over high fuel cost             PARIS,  SAN FRANCISCO–– The “yellow vest” riots ripping apart France,  bringing at least 412 arrests on December 1,  2018 alone,  more than 260 injuries,  half of them in Paris,  and two reported deaths,  are behind the scenes adding a social peace-and-justice imperative […]

Nazi zombies from hell: VW monkey tests & New Zealand use of 1080

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Pledging to quit animal tests, VW tries again to shake Nazi origin             WOLFSBURG,  Germany––Monkeys are no longer breathing diesel fumes. Volkswagen publicists are likely breathing sighs of relief. Nazi tactics and ideology live on elsewhere. Examples include the use of the Nazi-developed pesticide Compound 1080 to kill a targeted goal of two million feral […]

Pit bulls, bunnies, & advice from Ann Landers on her 100th birthday

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“Wake up & smell the coffee” Wrote Sioux City Journal editor Bruce Miller on July 4,  2018,  marking the 100th anniversary of the birthdays of identical twin sisters Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren,  “When it comes to common sense, no one topped Ann Landers and Dear Abby.  The two native Sioux Cityans dispensed miles of […]

Death of Koko, 46, raises question what will become of her rejected mate Ndume?

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Koko was among the last great apes used in still controversial 1970s language research             WOODSIDE,  California––With Koko deceased,  what now will become of Ndume,  37,  the last and least famous of the three gorillas who once shared the Gorilla Foundation sanctuary and primate language research laboratory in the Santa Cruz Mountains,  south of San […]